


Karma

by Tarlan



Category: Hawaii (TV)
Genre: Drama, Episode Tag, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-09-10
Updated: 2006-09-10
Packaged: 2017-10-18 16:55:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/191102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sean and Kenny reflect on the nature of karma.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Karma

It had been a sweet deal. First you steal a top range vehicle - a Porsche, a Ferrari, or one of those high priced saloons or limousines that made a rich man feel like a king - and then you sell it on the black market in South America for a substantial profit. Except it wasn't just one car, it was dozens. All lined up inside a warehouse close to the chop shop, with their engine serial numbers removed and their interiors emptied of anything too personal to the previous, unfortunate owner.

The first shipment had provided the beautiful house surrounding him, and Kenny watched as his little girl raced around their new home, still amazed by her tiny life and the grave responsibility on his shoulders even after three years. She should never have existed, as it had never been his intention to father a child... but Kenny had no regrets for she gave true meaning to his life. He wanted her to have all the things he never had as a child, and by the end of this week, that dream would have been attained.

The second shipment, due to sail in a few days, would set him and his daughter up for life... and then it all went sour.

The cop heading up the task force, had come too close to uncovering the car-jacking ring, and if he was not stopped then all of Kenny's dreams for a better life would turn to ashes. The others - his partners - felt the same way, having too much riding on this next shipment, and so they devised a simple plan to eliminate Detective Sean Harrison.

Kenny had no objections. Sean Harrison meant little to him, just one more obstacle that needed to be removed, and so he let the others make their plans and hire an assassin to take out Harrison. Problem was, his partners decided to send a stronger message to the cops to make them think twice about confronting the gang again... so they ordered the hit on Harrison's little boy too.

Looking back, Kenny could recall the shock of that discovery, with his eyes automatically seeking out the small child who had completed his life. His little girl... his Julie. The three-year-old turned with excited, dark eyes seeking his, with her giggles echoing through his head and faltering his heart with their pure innocence.

It wasn't right. Sean Harrison was a legitimate target... but not his kid.

That night, Kenny sat in the shadows of his little girl's bedroom, listening to her small breaths as she slept with an innocence he had long forgotten. He reached out and touched her tiny fingers, soft and silken, and he felt incredibly protective of her. He knew a father's love for his child. He knew he would die for his little girl. He would jump in front of a bullet, in front of a car... he would go to prison for the rest of his life to save her. He couldn't bear the thought of losing her, of seeing her small body lying cold and lifeless on a slab.

The bile rose in his throat as her image was replaced by that of a little boy, and he leaped up, hand over his mouth as he fled to the bathroom to throw up.

One of his partners thought of himself as a great kahuna, a priest, and had tried to justify the killing of Harrison's child as ancient Kapu law. However, Kenny could see no justice in the killing of a child.

With his head hanging over the bowl, and vile-tasting spittle still clinging to his lips, Kenny knew he could not stand by while another man's child was senselessly murdered. He tore several sheets of paper off the roll and wiped away the vomit, flushing the mess away before, shakily, pushing back to his feet. Moving to the washstand, he twisted the cold faucet and let the water run, splashing it over his face and neck before looking directly into the mirror set above the basin.

His tan had disappeared, blanched by this terrible sickness of mind and body, leaving it a sickly gray... but his eyes told him the truth. He knew what he had to do, even though it destroyed all his dreams and would, most likely, part him from his Julie. Staggering to the main room, he lifted the phone off its cradle and dialed a number that he had looked up earlier.

"Harrison? I need to see you... Now!"

Within moments he had set up a meeting place and, within the hour, the cops were moving in on all his partners, dragging them from their beds and raiding the warehouse where the cars were stored awaiting shipment. He was taken with them, booked and then thrown into a cell, but he had no regrets for he knew he would never have been able to look his little girl in the face again if he had allowed the others to murder an innocent, little boy.

What goes around, comes around, someone had once said. Karma... how you live in this life creates the karma you will face in your future lives.

Kenny had heard of the concept of karma but did not truly care for what happened in the next life. It was this life that mattered and, in truth, he was not certain if he even believed that there was a next life. Still, yet another person had once put it more succinctly... one good turn deserves another. In repayment, Harrison conveniently lost the evidence that would have sent Kenny to prison along with his gang.

In some ways, that did not seem a lot of compensation for the loss of his dreams. If he had kept his mouth shut and let Harrison and his boy die then he would have had all that he had now, plus substantial wealth too. Instead, he had traded assured monetary security for the life of a child... for Jack Harrison.

****

 **Present Day**

Three years had passed since then, and now he and Harrison were on first name terms but it seemed Karma was not finished with either of them yet.

Kenny paced back and forth between the cop cars. Brendan Alapaui had his little girl and Kenny knew the heartless man would not hesitate to cut off Julie's head along with whomever else he had kidnapped. He had already murdered five people, including a young man whose only 'crime' had been to save the life of Sean's new partner.

On the road ahead was the abandoned sugar cane plant where Alapaui would be lying in wait for Sean and his fellow cops. Kenny could only pray that they had found Alapaui and stopped him before he carried out his terrible act of brutality on Julie.

He turned as a vehicle approached from that direction, staring intently as he tried to see into the interior. Part of him wanted to race towards the car, knowing it had no reason to come this way except for him, but fear held Kenny back. What if Sean had been too late to save Julie? What if all he could offer was her dismembered body?

His mouth dried up as Sean stepped out of the police car, holding open the door but otherwise making no attempt to move towards him. From a distance Kenny could not make out Sean's expression, seeing neither the broad grin of triumph nor the starkness of tragedy written upon it.

Silently, he prayed, please, please... let her be alive.

He let out the breath he had been unaware of holding as Sean's hands came to rest upon the small shoulders of a little girl, his little girl, and his heart leaped into his throat as he heard her shaky voice cry out to him. He was barely conscious of exactly when he started to run towards her. Suddenly, he was on his knees and she was in his arms, with her small limbs wrapped tightly around him, and yet he still couldn't hold her close enough.

When he looked up over her shoulder, he saw the smile lighting Sean's face.

Kenny rose to his feet with his child still clinging to him, and he began to walk away but then paused, turning only to say thank you silently to the man who had given him back his life this day. With a smile, Kenny acknowledged the simple nod from Sean that concealed the true depth of a friendship borne out of respect for the life of a child. Suddenly, all the wealth that could have been his meant nothing compared to what he had almost lost today. At the time, staying out of prison had seemed little compensation for the loss of those dreams.

What goes around, comes around, said the small voice in his head.

With fresh understanding, Kenny knew he had set karma in motion on the day he saved Sean Harrison's son. His action has created a debt between two fathers, and today that debt had been repaid a thousand times over.

Sean watched as Kenny carried his still frightened daughter away, the smile faltering on his lips as he thought of the sadistic man who had carried out the beheadings, and who had almost killed his new partner. Declan would have one hell of a bruise from where the bullet struck him but Sean knew that Alapaui had not intended for the second gunshot to hit the life-saving Kevlar. Alapaui had been aiming at Declan's face at point blank range, and there had been nothing Declan could do to stop him from pulling the trigger.

Part of Sean hated being the one to kill Alapaui but another part of him had taken pleasure in sending the man straight to hell. After all, Brendan Alapaui had been willing to sacrifice a child to his greed, a child that Sean had come to know since the day Kenny betrayed his gang to save Sean's son. His thoughts returned to the sugar cane plant...

Danny Edwards found the four scared hostages at the sugar plant and he brought Julie over to him with a gentleness that belied his usual offhand and gung-ho manner. As soon as Sean came in sight, Julie recognized him, tearing her hand from Edwards and flinging her arms around Sean's neck, holding on tight to the one person she knew in this terrifying place. Sean held her tightly for a moment, knowing how important a reassuring hug was to a small child, and then he gently pushed her to arms length.

"Your daddy's been so worried about you. Let's get you home."

He stripped off his Kevlar, offering a small smile of thanks as Gains took it from his hands. Within moments, he had commandeered a police car and was heading away from the scene, knowing the rest of the team would stay on top of things in his absence. At this moment, taking Julie to her father was his most important duty, fulfilling part of a debt that could never be truly repaid in Sean's eyes, but it felt good nonetheless...

As he watched Kenny drive away, Sean reflected on the strange twists of fate. If Kenny's associates had not ordered the hit on Sean's son then Kenny would have stood by while he was gunned down. Instead, Kenny had put his life and freedom on the line in order to save a stranger's child, and had saved that stranger's life in the process.

Three years later, they had come full circle, with Sean instrumental in locating Kenny's child before she met her death at the hands of a sadistic killer.

What goes around, comes around.

A twist of fate, or Karma? Sean had no idea how much either, or both, had played in this investigation but today he had seen gratitude in a father's eyes, and that was one emotion he knew all too well.

THE END


End file.
